(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a common distribution device of a fuel cell for a vehicle. In particular, a common distribution device of a fuel cell easily discharges water when a vehicle accelerates, decelerates or tilts.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell is a device producing electric power by converting chemical energy into electrical energy using an electrochemical reaction of fuel. A fuel cell is an environment-friendly device and is expected to have a high electric power producing efficiency.
The fuel cell is supplied with hydrogen and air from outside of the vehicle for the electrochemical reaction. Gas remains after the reaction is discharged.
A coolant line is separately provided in order to prevent heat from being generated in a catalyst area by an exothermic reaction.
Generally, a stack (or a fuel cell stack) is a set formed by accumulating about four hundred separation plates which supplies voltage necessary to various driving devices. For maintenance purposes, most fuel cell stacks are divided into sub-stacks, having about one hundred separation plates each.
Each sub-stack has six ports: air inlet, air outlet, hydrogen inlet, hydrogen outlet, coolant inlet and coolant outlet. In case that the stack assembly is formed by combining four sub-stacks, twenty four ports should be formed.
If these ports are formed by their respective pipes, operation efficiency is substantially deteriorated and there is a risk of leak of water in connecting portions. Taking this issue into account, most stacks use a distribution device that is formed by boring the stack in a block shape and uses the bored space as a fluid passage.
However, such distribution device has a problem in that a design thereof should be changed according to the number and the disposition of the sub-stacks.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.